Hastert Lawyers: Please Spare Him Prison

Attorneys for former U.S. House Speaker and Illinois Republican Dennis Hastert on Wednesday asked a federal judge to sentence their client to a term of probation, saying he was in poor health and already thoroughly shamed by the criminal case against him.

Hastert, 74, pleaded guilty last year to violating federal banking laws, admitting in a deal with prosecutors that he withdrew money from banks in increments low enough to avoid mandatory reporting requirements and that he paid someone to keep decades-old misconduct a secret.

Writing that the sentencing later this month “will be the most difficult day in Mr. Hastert’s life,” the former speaker’s attorneys urged a federal judge to consider his deep remorse and his significant medical problems.

“Mr. Hastert’s fall from grace has been swift and devastating,” Hastert’s attorneys wrote. “Neither we as his lawyers, nor Mr. Hastert, have the present insight to understand and reconcile the unfortunate and harmful incidents he caused decades ago with the enduring achievements, leadership, and generosity that earned him extraordinary affection and respect throughout this country during his many years of public service.”

Hastert is scheduled to be sentenced on April 27. Federal sentencing guidelines call for him to face zero to six months in prison, although the judge could deviate from that range.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney in Chicago declined to comment on Hastert’s request for probation, saying prosecutors would file their written response by the Friday deadline.

Hastert, his attorneys wrote, asked to have his name removed from Wheaton College’s J. Dennis Hastert Center for Economics, Government, and Public Policy because “he wanted to minimize the repercussions felt by the school and its students.”

Hastert’s attorneys also provided extensive details about his failing health, writing that he “needs assistance getting out of bed, toileting, bathing, and dressing himself.”

1 COMMENT

Something is wrong with the “laws” that make a criminal offence out of people withdrawing or depositing their own honestly earned cash. Ten thousand or nine thousand – that’s none of the government’s business. Don’t see how this law is constitutional.